#soFail: Completely missing the point

Originally published on 04 September 2014

Here are two examples of an established international airport showing apparent signs of senselessness in their engagement efforts, if it can even be called that, which no social media operator should ever demonstrate…

Conversation example one:

Problem:

1. The airport (@TorontoPearson), upon engaging the affected passenger (@lowriviolinist), chose to maintain a hands-off approach by providing an indirect solution to the affected individual, rather than electing to get involved with furthering the problem resolution process.
2. The passenger mentioned being “fobbed off” by British Airways (@BritishAirways) when calling to enquire about the status of the lost bag — and yet, the airport responds five minutes later with the airline’s telephone number for “baggage help”, and concluding the tweet with “hopefully that will help”.
3. Deservingly, the airport gets a virtual mouthful from @thatjohn, specifically pointing out a complete lack of appreciation of the given situation. Even after a subsequent, and very reasonable, suggestion was made for the airport to possibly assist, by directly liaising with British Airways on the passenger’s behalf, the airport maintained its initial position.
4. The last replying tweet by the airport suggested complete ignorance by its Twitter operator, and served absolutely no purpose towards resolving the presented problem.
5. Throughout this entire Twitter conversation, at no time did British Airways jump in to assist.

There is no excuse for being ignorant or senseless when engaging on Twitter — and this couldn’t be further from the truth if it’s a corporate- or support-based account. The concluding tweet, with its patronising tone and far-from-helpful statement, was a classic example of how not to respond.

British Airways should also be ashamed for being completely absent throughout the entire conversation. The issue with the lost bag is their direct responsibility to the passenger — and yet, clearly not reflected here.

Conversation example two:

Need I say more?

While the airport responded to @McWhirterAlex’s tweet within a minute, the operator clearly didn’t follow this conversation — and assumed that he is also experiencing issues.

Interestingly enough, the first tweet by the airport in this second example (to the affected passenger) seems to indicate another Twitter operator responding to this set of tweets — remembering how, in the previous example, no direct assistance was offered or provided.

If true, such demonstrations of poor comprehension can only result in a generally-lacklustre user experience with Toronto Pearson Airport’s social media team, which — when generalised — can lead to overall customer service being seen in a similar light.

Takeaways

Listen carefully to what people involved in the overall conversation have to say and share, and not just the individual/s presenting the situation. It’s easy to reply a tweet or post — but offering a constructive and appropriate one will always require some thought.

Not only was the passenger affected by the ridiculous nature of the airport’s replies, but also others who were involved in the offending dialogue.

All for the world to see.

Kinny tweets aviation, social media and technology on Twitter.